Appropriately for a day whose abbreviation is 7/11 and during the 36th World
Series of Poker, which has drawn 6,000 players to Las Vegas to compete
for a prize fund of at least $50 million, we peek at a Friday Wall Street Journal
roundup of new poker books. The titles are all the more timely as poker
achieves a new popularity with adults and even high school kids.
Reviewer Christopher F. Chabris, a chess National Master and lecturer in Harvard's department of psychology, emphasized that poker has surpassed chess in "mind sport" popularity in part "by adopting a chess-like tournament structure, with an upfront financial commitment that minimizes the gambling aspect and maximizes the returns on strategic and tactical skill."
- Moneymaker: How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker by the improbably named Chris Moneymaker with Daniel Paisner (HarperEntertainment, $23.95, 006076001X) is a "surprisingly fresh" account of Moneymaker's "Cinderella story" of two years ago, when he won the World Series of Poker.
- One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey "The Kid" Ungar, The World's Greatest Poker Player (Atria, $25, 0743476581), a book about the late ace of card games who won nearly $30 million but squandered everything, including his gaming ability, on drugs, women and sports and race betting. The book was written by Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson using many contributions from Ungar, who died before the book was completed.
- The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time by Michael Craig (Warner, $24.95, 0446577693), about Andy Beal, a Texas banker who played spectacularly high-stakes games in Las Vegas with top pros, including Howard Lederer, who won $9.3 million from Beal.
- The Making of a Poker Player by Matt Matros (Citadel, $14.95, 0818406429), a combination memoir/how-to guide by the man who last year won $700,000 at the World Poker Championship and used some of his earnings to get an MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Another book on poker and a novel are on the way.
Reviewer Christopher F. Chabris, a chess National Master and lecturer in Harvard's department of psychology, emphasized that poker has surpassed chess in "mind sport" popularity in part "by adopting a chess-like tournament structure, with an upfront financial commitment that minimizes the gambling aspect and maximizes the returns on strategic and tactical skill."